A draft paper entitled "Administrative measures for
religious clergy" has been published and the rules will enter into force on 1 May 2021, reported Bitter Winter on 11 February 2021. Article 3 is particularly revealing: "Religious clergy should love the motherland, support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, support the socialist system, abide by the Constitution, laws, regulations, and rules, practice the core values of socialism, adhere to the principle of independent and self-administered religion in China, adhere to the direction of the‚
Sinicization‚ of religion in China, operate to maintain national unity, religious harmony and social stability."
Thomas Muller, persecution analyst for World Watch Research, says: "The measures, which can be found in English translation under the link provided, require the registration of all religious clergy in a national database; the authorities then issue a "˜clergy card" to confirm the minister"s official legal status. As Article 3 (cited above) reveals, the text is very clear about the goal of the new requirements: Loyalty towards the Communist Party is key for being recognized as a pastor or priest. Unregistered ministers will be considered illegal. More worrying is the fact that the certificate can easily be revoked for a plethora of reasons, meaning that clergy will have to exercise constant caution and a high amount of self-censorship."
Thomas Muller concludes: "On a side note, the rules dealing with the appointment of Catholic clergy nowhere mention the Vatican and its agreement with the Chinese authorities. It will be interesting to see what this means in practice. Some observers think the deal with the Vatican has succeeded in
seriously weakening the underground Catholic church (National Review, 19 February 2021)."
